My Favorite Places To Shop #ListifyLife

Have you joined up for the Summer #ListifyLife challenge? It's easy, just pick the topic of the week and post your list wherever you like with the hashtag. :) This week's topic is where you love to shop. This one was way too easy for me, lol.

1. Michael's - I know you're shocked. But planners and stickers and pens and washi tape and ALL the coupons! :)

2. Homegoods - I'm not a big clothes shopper, but I love shopping for home stuff. Plus, they have a great office/stationary section where I always find cool stuff for cheap.

3. Target - I have to get necessities here but I also can't resist the dollar aisle. 

4. Barnes and Noble - I don't think I need an explanation here. 

5. Etsy - I have a bit of a planner sticker addiction and Etsy feeds it. But I comfort myself by telling myself that I am supporting home businesses run by awesome women. :)

6. Central Market - This is a gourmet grocery store in Texas. It's kind of like Whole Foods but more focused on gourmet foods than organic/health. It's a beautiful store and the produce section is the BEST.

Those are mine. I'd love to hear some of yours!

How I Drive Myself Crazy Deciding What To Buy & The Mental Benefit of "Good Enough"

I do a lot of my shopping online. A LOT. If I could get fresh groceries to my door, I'd order those online too. I like the convenience and the variety. However, this weekend while I was researching mechanical keyboards, I realized that online shopping and the new culture of reviewing can drive me to insanity sometimes.

Here's how it goes. Yesterday, I'm in Best Buy and I see this snazzy keyboard. I run my fingers over it and---ooh, it's soooo clicky. *gets hearts in eyes* But it's a gaming keyboard and doesn't have Mac keys and is kind of pricey, so I'm like--I'll go home and research.

See, a few months ago, I saw a post on Dear Author about mechanical keyboards. I love the idea of a clicky keyboard and I loved that these types of keyboards are supposed to help you type faster and reduce typing fatigue.

I'm on my computer all day and type thousands of words a day (well, that's the plan most days at least, lol) and that comes with its own aches and pains even if I'm diligent about posture and ergonomic stuff. But, at the time, I didn't click buy on a keyboard because I couldn't feel it in person.

Then, Best Buy happened and that was the tipping point on wanting one of these keyboards. So this should be easy, right? Go home, google mechanical keyboards for Macs and choose one. Yeah. I wish. No, instead, this is where the insanity begins.

I don't want a mechanical keyboard for Mac. I was THE BEST FOR ME keyboard. And I want to know everything about my choices. So this means hours of reading reviews online, watching YouTube videos of the choices, and putting out a call on social media to friends, asking if they have this type of keyboard and what are their thoughts. Many hours later, I end up ordering this one: Matias Tactile Pro Mini because a) it's white and matches my Mac better b) doesn't have the ten key pad so it won't take up too much room and C) has this delicious clicky sound (click play on video to hear). Ahh...

But the decision took FOREVER and sucked up all my evening. If I hadn't done research, I would've ended up with a different one, but that's not the point. The point is that buying one simple thing can be this maddening time suck because I'm what Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project would call a Maximizer. 

Here are her definitions of a Satisficer and a Maximizer

"Satisficers are those who make a decision or take action once their criteria are met. That doesn’t mean they’ll settle for mediocrity; their criteria can be very high; but as soon as they find the car, the hotel, or the pasta sauce that has the qualities they want, they’re satisfied.

Maximizers want to make the optimal decision. So even if they see a bicycle or a photographer that would seem to meet their requirements, they can’t make a decision until after they’ve examined every option, so they know they’re making the best possible choice."

I'm am very much a maximizer. There are some exceptions. I'm a satisficer when it comes to cars, purses, shoes, beauty products, and clothes. Basically, things that aren't all that important to me. "Good enough" is good enough for me in those categories. But for most other things--office supplies, computers, grocery stores, planners, furniture, kitchen equipment, household things, I want the BEST choice.

And the bad thing about that is not just the time it takes to read all those reviews and watch videos and basically obsess over a decision, Rubin has found in her research that Satisficers or those who are cool with "good enough" are happier people. Because Maximizers get anxiety about making the wrong decision.

Now, this doesn't mean I can change myself, lol. But sometimes I wish I could dial it down a little. Like, this keyboard is on its way to me. But I'm not 100% committed yet. I'm going to try it and if it isn't exactly what I want, I'll send it back and try the other one I was tempted by. Sigh. The cycle continues. (This is also what gets me in trouble with my writing, too--perfectionism. Must find the perfect word.)

So how about you? Does anyone suffer from this same "must read every review" syndrome? Tell me I'm not the only one, lol. Or do you find doing this for certain things but not for others?

Book Sales: What I've Bought & Why I Can't Resist

If you know me, you know that I'm not a shopper. Shopping for clothes? Meh. Shopping for shoes? Ick. Shopping for furniture? Shoot me. I do enjoy the gourmet grocery store or a trip to IKEA, but that's about it.

Then there are books...

That's a whole other story. 

There's not much I enjoy more than browsing books--both in bookstores and online. There's such possibility. Where am I going to find that next story that sweeps me away or shocks me or keeps me up at night?

And even more irresistible than a regular book is a book ON SALE. Gah. Might as well wave cupcakes in front of me and ask me not to bite. Surprisingly, I'm not attracted to FREE! because I've been burned there and usually question the quality. The only time I download a free read is if it's from a trusted author or publisher or I've gotten a rec from a friend. But that low sale price? Yeah, that gets me.

I'm still selective in which I choose usually. I have so much in my TBR pile already that I want to make sure it's something I will truly read. But if I've heard good things about the book, hear a rec, or the book has great reviews from trusted sources, then I'm usually buying. (And if it's YA or NA, I'm emailing Julie Cross with--"have you read this? Should I get it?" Because she's usually ahead of me on her reading.)

And I've already told you about my discovery at the used bookstore of boxes of romances that sell for $15 (above) for 44 books. Hubs bought me a couple of those. I mean, how could I turn away from that?

Even though I know I'm short on reading time, I can't seem to turn away from a story that sounds interesting. It's like I'm afraid that one day I'll run out of stories to read. If I didn't have an e-reader, I'd probably look like an episode of hoarders, lol. But I guess one can have worse addictions. (At least that's what I tell myself and hubs.)

Plus, the Daily Deals are particularly enticing because you know that the next day that 1.99 sale is going to jump back to 7.99-9.99 so you need to act now. Yeah, I know, that's the point. But clearly, the method works on me.

If you want to keep up with Daily Deals, you can sign up for the Kindle Daily Deal email (and I'm assuming Nook has something similar). You can also follow Dear Author's Daily Deal posts (I like hers because she often gives commentary on the choices that either sells me on it or steers me away), and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books features romance deals regularly too.

Here's what I've bought on sale recently (and haven't read yet)--note that all of these aren't necessarily still on sale. Click covers for more info on the book.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Have heard really good things about this one, so it was a no-brainer buy.

 

Painted Faces by L.H. Cosway

Saw this one on Dear Author with a rec. I have to say I'm really intrigued at the idea of an alpha male hero who dresses in drag. Not something I'd normally think would work, but I've heard from multiple sources that it's a great book.

 

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

There's a lot of buzz in the New Adult world about this author and lots of strong reviews on this book, so I figured I'd check it out.

 

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Saw this one on Smart Bitches when there was a sale on all things Austen. I recently watched Pride & Prejudice for the first time (the mini-series) and have been watching the first season of Downton Abbey, so I guess I'm just in the mood for something Austen related.

 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

This is one I emailed Julie about. She gave me the thumbs up. Plus, what a cute cover and title. :)

 

Midnight Man by Lisa Marie Rice

A strong rec on Dear Author had be buying this one.

 

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Have heard lots of good things about this one, though I've been warned that I need to be prepared to buy the sequel after finishing this one.

 

The Black Lyon by Jude Deveraux

I'm making a point to read some old school 80s/90s romances which is part of the reason I'm happy I got those boxes at the used bookstore.

 

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

Have heard good things about the author and the blurb intrigued me.

 

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

This was totally a "back cover sounds interesting" buy. I may have checked reviews on Goodreads first, too.

 

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Good reviews out there on this one and I love a good time travel story.

 

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

I used to read Dean Koontz and I know this is the start to one of his biggest series, so I grabbed it.

As you can see, sales help nudge me into purchasing things outside my normal authors and genres. I love that. I don't need to wait for sales to buy my favorite authors or to buy an erotic romance. I buy those when they come out. But the sales on other stuff helps fill in the gaps with new, outside my genre stuff. Win-win.

So what about you? Do you have trouble resisting a book sale? How do you decide what to buy if it's not an auto-buy author for you?

**I'm not sure why some browsers are not showing the book covers. I've checked it on both my computer and phone and they're showing on my end. Seems like half of you can see them and others can't. I've gone back and added the titles with links in case you can't see the covers. Sorry! Not sure what the issue is.